Smile

Smile

Whatever it is that makes you smile… it’ll probably make your students smile, too. Smiling requires no resources, IT connections, extra support or wifi and yet, it’s something we often forget to bring into the classroom. I’d say that it’s the most important.

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. ~Mother Teresa

After watching a TED talk on the hidden power of smiling by Ron Gutman, I was inspired. Actually, I was shocked to learn that smiling relieves stress, boosts your immune system, lowers blood pressure, releases endorphins, makes you live longer and makes you appear more attractive (we all need some of that 😉 ).

Thus, I thought I’d throw in a couple of resources to get you and your students smiling:

1. In Mathematics – Funny charts – http://izismile.com/2009/03/16/funny_charts_40_images.html Some of these aren’t appropriate for students but it’s easy enough to use a screen capture tool for the funny charts. Wouldn’t your students just love to create their own! Also, check out GraphJam.com.

2. In English, there are few funny tools that you can use. Only competent spellers will find ‘spelling fails’ funny. Also, have a look at www.theoatmeal.com – it often has funny comics about all things grammar, spelling and punctuation. Again, monitor for appropriateness.

There are also random quizzes on The Oatmeal such as; How to check if your family are trying to eat you.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment or the smallest act of caring, all of which we have the potential to turn a life around. ~Leo F Buscaqlia

Have you seen the BBC Talking Animals clips on Youtube? My students ask to view these on nearly a daily basis.

Other great clips to check out on Youtube are any advertisements made by T Mobile. They are very clever. What a fabulous deign and tech task to work out how some of the ads are constructed (search = Angry Birds T Mobile).

4. Society studies – One of the funniest aspects of human social behaviour is body language. Alan Pease is an Aussie expert in body language. His website – http://www.peaseinternational.com/ gives great tips for analysing BL and he has some funny Youtube clips as well.

5. History – Much of the funny stuff about history happens because it seems out of context. Check out www. cracked.com/history for some comparative hilarity.